MHS Val & Sal Both Headed to Pennsylvania

MHS Valedictorian & Salutatorian Both Headed to ​Pennsylvania

Posted on 06/05/2017

The Class of 2017's Valedictorian and Salutatorian have a lot in common. Hard working, ambitious, and bright, Valedictorian Xindi Chen and Salutatorian Aditya Singh will both attend the University of Pennsylvania in the fall.

Students, families and friends attending the William Mason High School Class of 2017’s graduation ceremony were treated to two powerful speeches by Chen and Singh during the school’s commencement ceremony.

Valedictorian Xindi Chen, of Mason, is the daughter of Yachuan Chen and Yingjie He. She plans to major in biomedical engineering and will attend the University of Pennsylvania.

Chen shared a story about the symbolism of the playground's lessons for grads. She offered classmates the following advice, “The slide taught me that you gotta climb a lot of steps to get to the top, but the thrill of the ride down is worth it... We can't be afraid to work hard, to make sacrifices to get to where we want to go. Have that ambition, have that drive, have that passion to become the best version of you that you can be and then advance just a little bit further., We have to be willing to stand up for ourselves and our beliefs. To use our voice to advocate for what we believe to be right.”

Salutatorian Aditya Singh, of Mason, is the son of Omopal and Usha Singh. He plans to study at the Wharton School of Business at Penn.

Singh noted that one of the best things he learned from being in a high school with so many versions of success was that it was important to cheer for each other, rather than comparing oneself to others. He reflected, “First, by meeting so many amazingly successful people in this school, whether it be the incredibly hard working football players winning clutch playoff games or insanely smart students winning science awards at the international level, I learned that it's important not to compare yourself to others. As we go to our workplaces and colleges, we're going to meet a lot of different people - who are very good at what they do - but we have to remain confident in our own abilities to do well in whatever we're doing. The constant attitude of comparing yourself to others may provide short term motivation in some cases, but in the grand scheme of things it just increases the pressure you are putting on yourself. Don't let yourself become the person who is being driven by a fear of falling behind your peers instead of your own personal desire for success.”